Kit fees: how to charge for your own gear

A kit fee is rent for the gear you bring.

A kit fee is what you charge a client for using your own equipment on their job. You may also hear it called a kit rental or a box rental. It is separate from your day rate: the day rate pays for your time and skill, and the kit fee pays for the camera, lights, laptop, sound kit, tools, or makeup kit you brought with you.

Charging it is reasonable. If you did not own the gear, the client would rent it from someone else. Your equipment cost money to buy, costs money to insure and repair, and loses value every time it goes out.

Keeping the two prices apart also helps you. A client comparing day rates sees your labor on its own, and when a job needs more or less gear, you change the kit line without reopening the conversation about your rate. If you have not settled that rate yet, the day rate guide works through it.

Set the fee from what the gear costs you.

There are two common ways to reach a number, and it is worth doing both.

Work up from your costs. Add what the kit costs you in a year: the purchase price spread over the years you expect to use it, plus insurance, repairs, and consumables. Divide by the number of days you expect it to work. A kit that cost $12,000, is expected to last four years, and costs $600 a year to insure and maintain comes to $3,600 a year. At 60 working days, that is $60 a day just to break even.

Work across from the rental market. Look at what a rental house charges for the same items in your area. That is the price the client would pay without you, so it is the ceiling they will compare you against. Owner-operators often charge somewhat less than a rental house, because the client gets no backup stock or replacement service. These figures are examples, not suggested prices.

A kit fee is not the same as being repaid for a cost. If you buy batteries or hire a lens for the job, that is an expense or a hire you pass on, and it belongs on its own line.

A kit fee on a two-day invoice.

This example is a sound recordist on a two-day shoot. The names and rates are made up to show the layout and the arithmetic. All amounts are USD, with no tax shown.

Labor is 2 × $650 = $1,300. The kit is 2 × $200 = $400. The client can see at a glance what they paid for the person and what they paid for the equipment.

One flat rate, or item by item?

The example uses one flat kit rate with the contents described underneath. That suits a kit you always bring as a set, and it is quick for a client to approve.

Itemize when the gear changes from job to job, when the client asked for specific items, or when a production's accounts department wants to see each piece. An itemized kit has a line per item with its quantity, daily rate, and days. The gear rental invoice guide shows that layout in full.

Either way, agree the billable days. A travel day or a prep day may be charged at full rate, half rate, or not at all, and the invoice should match whatever you agreed. On jobs paid through a payroll company, a kit or box rental is often handled on its own form; follow that production's process and keep a copy.

Check the kit line before you send.

Bill your kit in Aestro.

Aestro is a private workspace for freelancers: projects, invoices, gear, and people in one place. Gear is the part most invoicing tools leave out, and it is built in here.

1. Add your gear once. In the Gear library, choose Add gear and fill in the name, category, quantity, and day rate. Serial number and replacement value are there when you want them.
2. Build the kit for the job. On the project, open Package and choose New gear list. Pick items from your library, or start from a Saved list if you take the same kit every time. Save as reusable list keeps it for the next job.
3. Say who is paid for it. Set the list to My rental income when you are charging the client. The other options, I pay the gear owner and Client pays gear owner, cover gear that is not yours.
4. Put it on the invoice. Under Billed on, pick the invoice or + New invoice. Add your labor as a Day line item above it, and the invoice shows your time and your kit separately.
5. Send it and get paid. Download PDF or Open email draft, then Record payment when it arrives.

Building the list itself is covered in the shoot gear list guide. To see a project with gear already on its invoice, open the demo; it needs no account.